


Hugs

by Pegasus143



Series: Autism Acceptance Month 2019 One-Shots [3]
Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Autism Acceptance Month 2019, Autistic Ralsei, Character Study, Gen, Post-Canon, Stimming, author is autistic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 19:25:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18482815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pegasus143/pseuds/Pegasus143
Summary: As soon as Kris and Susie leave, Ralsei starts missing them. Especially Kris' hugs.





	Hugs

**Author's Note:**

> \- This is my first Deltarune fic, so please be nice!  
> \- If you want to learn more about autism, I'd highly suggest looking up Amythest Schaber on YouTube, who has an excellent series called "Ask an Autistic"  
> \- I'll also definitely answer questions in the comments :)  
> \- Obviously different people experience things differently, so Ralsei's experiences won't necessarily match the experiences of every autistic person

Ralsei watched as Kris and Susie walked away. He’d waited so long for the heroes from the prophecy to come so he could have friends, but now… now they were gone. He approached the stairs to go back into Lancer’s castle, but the sounds of the other darkeners laughing, talking, blasting music—it was too much for him. He retreated back to the rooftop and sat down, rubbing a bit of his soft cloak between two of his fingers.   
_Will they ever come back? Kris and Susie both expressed interest in my cakes. I should bake some when I get back to my castle. But what if they don’t come back right away? Then the cakes will be cold, and they won’t taste any good. What if they don’t come back at all? Susie didn’t like me for a while, but I think she likes me now. I might have accidentally scared Kris with the manual I wrote, but I’m not sure why. It’s only everything they’d need to know about this world—everything that I know about this world, really. Was Kris not interested in reading it? No, it was definitely interesting to write, so of course it would be interesting to read! Maybe it was just a little long. I knew I should’ve gotten rid of that chapter about puzzle construction. It’s not like we needed to do that or anything… but it’s so fascinating! Why wouldn’t they want to read about that?_  
An ear-plugging spell Ralsei had read about once popped into his head. _That’s it! I could just cast that on myself and walk through the castle without hearing anything! As long as I avoid everyone, they shouldn’t try to talk to me. It’s not like they think of me as a hero or anything, anyways._  
He waved his hand, smiling as sparkles came out and flew to his ears. _There we go! Let’s see if I casted this right…_ He approached the stairs again, this time hearing a much more muffled version of the party that was going on below. He slipped through the crowds of darkeners until…  
“Ralsei?”  
He turned around, seeing Lancer. “I thought you’d be sitting on your throne, basking in your new title of the King of Spades.”  
Lacer shrugged. “It got boring, so I decided to join the party! It’s great, right?”  
He didn’t want to hurt Lancer’s feelings, but Lancer hadn’t organized the party anyways, so maybe he wouldn’t be offended.  
“It’s a little loud for me. I had to use an ear-plugging spell.”  
“Oh.” Lancer looked around. “I guess you’re heading home, then?”  
“Yeah. I was going to bake some cakes in case Susie and Kris show up again since I promised them some, and maybe then I’ll take a nap, and after that I’ll write a book about our adventures….”  
“And how I became King?” Lancer asked excitedly.  
“Yes, that’ll be in it, too,” Ralsei said, some potential lines for the book already appearing in his head. “I’m leaving now, bye!”  
“Bye!” Lancer yelled.  
The walk back was mainly spent thinking about the book, though when he reached the dummy he’d made, Ralsei was reminded of Kris hugging him while he was trying to teach them to fight. It was a nice, gentle pressure—much more than hugging practice with the dummy could provide. _Maybe there’s a spell I could look up for that._  
He passed through the empty village. _I should tell Lancer that if anyone needs a place to live or set up a shop, that they could come here. But… they might want to come and visit me. I don’t know if I’d want others around all the time._  
When he got into his castle, he immediately ran into the library. “Spells… healing spells, fighting spells, sleeping spells, Susie spells, Kris spells,” he mumbled. “Aha! Sensory spells!” He pulled the book down and started flipping through the pages. “Yes, this is exactly what I need….” He found the ear-plugging spell, followed by the anti-ear-plugging spell, which he immediately cast on himself. He heard the light, relaxing music he’d enchanted the castle to play all the time.  
He continued flipping through the pages. “Weight spells… will make any object heavier without changing its outward appearance… common items to enchant include blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, and articles of clothing… sounds perfect!” He snatched up a blanket that was laying nearby and performed the spell. “Oh!” he exclaimed, feeling its weight increase. “I guess the spell worked.” He wrapped the blanket around himself, sighing in content under the weight. “It’s still not the same as one of Kris’ hugs, but it still feels nice.”  
A knock at the castle door startled him. Throwing the blanket off his shoulders, he ran to the door and threw it open. “Kris! Susie!”  
“Hey,” Susie said. “Kris convinced me to skip class today to come and visit.”  
“You mean, Susie convinced me to skip class today to come and get some of your cakes,” Kris replied.  
Ralsei realized he had absolutely no idea how to ask for a hug, considering he’d only ever given hugs to a dummy that couldn’t talk, and Kris had initiated all the hugs between them. “Er… come in, I’ll start cooking… the cakes will take a little bit to make since I didn’t realize you two would be coming.”  
“Of course we were coming! Besides, you’ve had yesterday to prepare!” Susie practically shouted as her and Kris entered the castle.  
“Um… sorry…” Ralsei said quietly.  
“Hey, I wasn’t trying to be mean, I was just trying to friendly-tease you,” Susie said a lot more quietly.  
“Oh…” He wasn’t sure how to respond to that, and just led the two towards the kitchen. “Here we are.”  
Susie walked into the kitchen, but Kris laid a hand on Ralsei’s shoulder. He turned around. “Kris?”  
They didn’t say anything, just glancing around.  
“Are you okay?”  
They still didn’t respond, but took their hand off Ralsei’s shoulder and moved as if they were going to put it in a pocket before realizing they didn’t have one.  
“H-h-hug?” Ralsei asked.  
Kris wrapped their arms around Ralsei. He felt a wet spot forming on his shoulder near where Kris’ head was.  
“I had a nightmare last night… that I wouldn’t be able to come back to see you because I was actually just a character in a videogame and the game got over at the end of yesterday.”  
Ralsei wrapped his arms around Kris and squeezed tightly. “I’m here. You’re here. Let’s bake some cakes now.”


End file.
